Brody Ekberg

R Scott wrote:Can you lay it down in one piece?  If you can, you could build it like a cutting board or countertop and dropped in place.

I could if i glued them to a sheet of treated plywood. Whether I put the plywood in first or glue the blocks on first and insert the thing as a whole it seems the end result would be the same. But still not sure how to deal with expansion and contraction of the blocks, how to waterproof and if I need to do anything to the concrete first.

We are wanting to use our rough sawn red pine 4x4s to make endgrain flooring for our entryway. Its a small space, probably 4’x4’ and concrete right now. Its unheated and gets a lot of moisture from snowy boots in winter.

My thoughts are cutting the 4x4s about 1-1.5” thick and wedging them in side by side with no grout in between, then putting some sort of water proof sealer like Waterlox on top. We have never done this before and I have questions…

I imagine these will expand and contract with moisture and season changes, so should I leave a gap around the perimeter? And if so, how do I keep the blocks tight together with a perimeter gap? Would lining the perimeter with something like cork be a good way to allow expansion?

What do we do between the concrete and wood blocks? Should we seal the concrete first? Or I considered laying a thin piece of treated plywood down and gluing the blocks to that.

Any suggestions are appreciated! This is the look we are going for:
https://aspensonlumber.com/unfinished-flooring/

R Scott wrote:Nails will still loosen as the wood swells and dries in thickness, but shouldn’t split or get loose enough to be an issue. My preference for board and batten is to nail the boards on one edge, then finish the boards if you’re going to. Then screw the prefinished battens in place with stainless or color matched screws. That way you can tighten the battens if they dry a lot or remove them to re finish. You can also screw a few boards on the same way if you need an access panel.

I might screw everything and skip nails all together. I just dont want issues since its my house and it seems like screws will just hold much better

R Scott wrote:Flat head nails split and finish nails pull out if the wood moves too much. Which is better depends on the species, thickness of board, and where the nail is placed. And how it’s driven—over driven flat heads definitely split worse. I don’t know the right answer for your situation, test your options and pick your poison. Finish nails definitely look better in my opinion, unless you overdrive them with a gun and then they are ugly.

Galvanized nails for a nail gun are a slight premium over regular, stainless are available but $$$.  We would use galvanized ring shank nails in a regular air gun turned way down, then finish driving them with a hammer and a special punch—it has a guide collar so you can’t miss or bend the nail. I think they call it a trim nail punch.  Made for driving nails into aluminum trim.

A quarter inch air gap between the siding and sheathing will do WONDERS for letting the siding dry and last longer. You can rip pieces of plywood or 2x material or buy the stickers material from a lumber mill. They make bug screens for the top and bottom, some are like heavy filter material used for ridge vent (cobra filter) and some are perforated metal and some are corrugated plastic. None are cheap, but if you have a Menards they sell sheets of Coro-plast you can rip down for a decent price.

As of now I think we’re going with Spruce, and maybe 3/4” thick. Unless thicker or thinner would be better. Seems to me that nails shouldn’t pull out from wood movement if the boards are only nailed on one edge or in the center right? I thought I read for hidden fasteners you want to nail on one edge of a board where the batten will cover it but if you arent worried about seeing nail heads, just put one in the center of the boards and let the battens hold the sides down. If nailed on both edges then nails pulling our or splitting boards seems inevitable. No experience here though, thats just my logic. I would consider using screws instead of nails if puling out is a concern regardless of how their nailed. And if I do use nails, I will likely hammer them in. I dont mind swinging a hammer and dont get to do it often.

As for an air gap goes, Im still planning that. We have 2x4 walls so are considering adding some insulation to the outside and not sure how thick or which route to go on that. Also looking into rain screen materials like nylon mesh strips and whatnot. I forget the brand names but there are a few products out there that I could lay 1/4” thick by 4” wide strips horizontally across the sheeting and it would allow air flow and water drainage behind the siding. Im sure they are expensive and maybe coro plast would be just as good and cheaper, Im not sure. And bug screen is also going to be part of it. Not sure what to use for that yet but definitely will be putting something in the gaps on top and bottom.

Matt McSpadden wrote:I'm no expert, but I think the pine would resist rot a bit better than spruce.

But if you are planning to paint/stain/burn or in some other way protect it... it might not be a big difference.

I assumed pine would last longer due to resins but have had other people say the spruce would last longer, although they couldnt say why.

I have no interest in painting wood, but definitely will use an oil based stain.

Mike Haasl wrote:I'm not sure about which would last longer as siding but you may want to check if they're sound before counting on the spruce.  By me they tend to get rotten on the inside a while before they die.  Same for balsam fir...

That’s a good idea, thanks.

Any opinions on spruce vs red pine for siding? Leaning towards board and batten except for maybe doing some live edge lap siding on the gables.

Was planning to use red pines but I have a lot of obstacles to avoid dropping them and kind of like where they are at. But then remembered we have at least 8 big spruces on the property and have access to more nearby. They are in a bad spot and would be good to get out of the way. Plus, spruce are getting sick and dying around here so it could be good to get some use of them soon.

Would one be more desirable than the other for siding? Or are they more or less interchangeable?

Any opinions on spruce vs red pine for siding? Leaning towards board and batten except for maybe doing some live edge lap siding on the gables.

Was planning to use red pines but I have a lot of obstacles to avoid dropping them and kind of like where they are at. But then remembered we have at least 8 big spruces on the property and have access to more nearby. They are in a bad spot and would be good to get out of the way. Plus, spruce are getting sick and dying around here so it could be good to get some use of them soon.

Would one be more desirable than the other for siding? Or are they more or less interchangeable?

Eric Hanson wrote:Brody,

Lack of/poor sleep/insomnia can pretty much wreck every part of one's life--certainly human relationships.  Some basic anatomy/functional explanation of the effects of sleep loss go something like this:

Believe it or not, despite running literally *thousands* of tests, the only human function that suffers from lack of sleep is the ability to focus or concentrate*.  I put a little asterisk at the end of the sentence, because the ability to concentrate then affects virtually every other human function and therefore lack of sleep worsens virtually every human function but in a slightly indirect way.

With regards to mood/cognition/emotions/etc., our frontal lobe (especially the prefrontal cortex) serves in part as a sort of switchboard that automatically bats down emotional impulses.  For instance, if you were told to *NOT* hit the person directly next to you, then the very first thought that enters your mind is "Hit the person next to me."  Of course, that is a bad idea and the frontal lobe immediately shuts off that impulse, you just sit there and the person next to you is none the wiser that momentarily you were thinking about hitting them.

But when we are sleep deprived, our frontal lobes don't do this job so well or automatically.  We can still shut down the impulse, but it takes a more concentrated effort, and sometimes when we are concentrating on shutting down one impulse, another might slip through.  With regards to mood and emotion, our frontal lobes are constantly shutting off impulses that are situationally inappropriate.  If we are happy and some angry impulse enters our mind (hit the person next to you), we shut that off and we keep being happy.  But when we have to constantly *WORK* to shut these off, other impulses slip through.  What others perceive is that we are moody, we snap easily, lose tempers and get emotionally impulsive.

So good for you that you found the mold and the two of you are getting better sleep!

Eric

That is very interesting and makes a lot of sense!

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:
You're not the only one. My personal experience indicates that a heavy mold exposure (and the immune response it triggers) definitely sends my tolerance and mood and perception into the sewer. Renovations in old wood shavings walls, compost heaps that went sideways, and deer mouse crap (even 10 years old) all hit me pretty hard. And then I'm a grumpy, irritable, cranky old bear that's pretty darn miserable to be around. I have learned to recognize the symptoms (and the causes) and beg pardon from Dear Wife -- sorry I'm being chippy and grumpy, I stirred up the big pile of X yesterday and I feel like crap. it's me, not you.

Its interesting isnt it? Does your wife get affected the same way? I literally dont feel any different mentally or physically than before. And didnt really feel any different while doing the mold removal, other than the expected itchy eyes.